Passengers are packed into an overcrowded cabin of train L199 from Hangzhou to Guiyang, on January 25, 2005 (top). A train attendant serves passengers in Chongqing on February 9, 2017 (bottom). [Photos: VCG]

Platform staff serve hot water to thirsty passengers through a window at Shijiazhuang Railway Station during Spring Festival holiday in 1984 (top). A train attendant serves water for a child on a Nanchang Railway Group train on February 6, 2016 (bottom). [Photos: Xinhua]

Children play at a child-care center while waiting for the train at Beijing South Railway Station on February 2, 2018 (top left). Volunteers write free Spring Festival couplets for passengers at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station on February 2, 2018 (top right). Passengers queue in a temporary waiting area outdoors, as the waiting room was already full at Guangzhou Railway Station during the 1992 Spring Festival holiday (bottom). [Photos: Xinhua]

People form long lines to buy tickets at a ticket office set up at a stadium in Shanghai on January 26, 2005 (top). Passengers buy tickets from self-help machines at Nanchang Railway Station on January 13, 2017 (bottom). [Photos: Xinhua]

A passenger checks-in with help of staff at Beijing Railway Station, pictured on January 14, 2006 (top). A passenger poses for the camera when checking in using a facial recognition terminal at Guangzhou South Railway Station on January 13, 2017 (bottom). [Photos: Xinhua]